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Acadia Motor Speedway
Acadia Motor Speedway is one of the greatest racetracks in the GP America game, located in Bar Harbor, Maine. At seven configurations, it is tied with Casper-Evansville Sports Car Course for the second most active configurations of any fictional track in the game, to Roanoke Motor Raceway's eight. Grand Prix Circuit - 5.19 miles The Grand Prix Circuit is the longest configuration of the seven, clocking in at 5.19 miles. This makes it the third-longest track in the game, behind Honolulu International Airport Exhibition Circuit and NOLA Motorsports Park's full layout. The Frontstretch, which ascends to the right, is used by four of the seven layouts (GP, West, South, and Southwest). Turns 1 and 2 are a complementary left-right pair of 30-degree corners that weave through a slight cut in the hill. Turns 3 through 6 resemble the Dunlop Curves from Circuit de la Sarthe (Le Mans), a right-left-right-right combination. The section is, of course, much shorter and tighter than its namesake. Officially, the 2-5 sequence are known as the Western Esses, and Turn 6 is known as West Point due to its location as the westernmost point on the circuit. A short straight leads into Turn 7, the first in a three-turn semicircular sequence known as the Bowl. Turn 7 is a 70-degree level right-hander that leads into Turn 8, a long 160-degree left-hander that dips sharply three-quarters of the way through and is fully capable of throwing cars off the right-hand side of the track into the long sandy runoff if they hit the dip too fast. Turn 9 completes the Bowl by curving back 70 degrees to the right. The exit of Turn 9 begins the climb up the Backstretch, the second-longest straightaway on the circuit, at a slightly increasing grade. Unlike the Frontstretch, the Backstretch is perfectly straight as it heads up the side of a hill. Turn 10, or North Point, is a 120-degree right-hand carousel along the side of the cliff overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. However, the real fun is in Turn 11, also known as the Lookout, where the track bends into a 180-degree right-hand hairpin with the coastline and the ocean to the left. This turn is often cited as being the most iconic corner in the Eastern Cup. Turn 12 is a sharp left-hander that begins the descent down the Greataway, the longest straight on the circuit. It is broken at about the one-third mark by a slight but sharp unnamed left-hand bend, but the descent does not slow. Cars can reach over 200 miles an hour before they are forced to brake for King's Corner. Turn 13, or King's Corner, is the subject of much angst and many a joke in the garage. Some say that it is named for the fact that executing the corner correctly deserves the honor of a king, while others joke that the horrors it holds are worthy of Stephen King, and argue that he is its namesake. Its official designation as Turn 13 certainly helps with the superstition. King's Corner itself is a 200-degree, banked, left-hand carousel with an enormous runoff. Races are won or lost in this corner more than any other place on the circuit. Turn 14 is a 40-degree right-hander that leads into the Katahdin Curves, named after the tallest peak in Maine. The Curves themselves, Turns 15 and 16, are twin 150-degree hairpins, first right and then left. The apexes of both corners feature towering monoliths that prevent visibility past them, and give the impression of running through the bottom of a fantastical canyon. Turns 17, 18, and 19 run right along the Maine coastline, three identical 25-degree right-handers broken after Turn 18 by an unnamed slight left-hand correction. Turn 20 is a sharp 90-degree left-hander that leads into a rather sharp short incline back up into the hills. Turn 21, also known as East Point, is a 150-degree right-hand decreasing-bend carousel that levels back out. Turns 22 through 25 are four nearly-identical right-left-right-left 45-degree esses that continue climbing up the hill and back to the Frontstretch. The final corner in the sequence, Turn 25, poses an extra challenge due to the fact that it is slightly sharper than the other three, and there is no rumble strip runoff, but rather a wall. Cars that are too eager to get back into the throttle for the Frontstretch can pound the Turn 25 wall. North Course - 3.5 miles Acadia's North Course is one of the most popular proving grounds circuits in the game, along with Circuit of the Ozark's Mountain Circuit, due to its elevation changes, long straights, and variety of technical corners. The front straight of the North Circuit is actually on a line with the exit of the Grand Prix Circuit's Turn 1, in a section of track known as the Cross. The North Course enters the Grand Prix Circuit's Turn 2 as its own Turn 1, and follows the Grand Prix Circuit's route until two-thirds the way down the Greataway. Instead of continuing straight into King's Corner, the track diverges right ever so slightly into a very slight but punishing right-left-right combo (Turns 12-14) with high curbs. Cars can take this section at full speed if and only if they have the perfect line, otherwise they will chew up their corners on the high curbing. Turns 15 and 16 are part of the Cross, a section of track not included in the Grand Prix Circuit that features two curves that meet at their apexes, allowing traffic to go two directions at the exit from any entrance. The four estuaries point in the four cardinal directions, while the western and southern routes are included in one long curve and the northern and eastern make up the other. Turn 15 is the entry into the Cross from the north, and Turn 16 is the counter-curve to exit to the south. This puts cars back onto the front straightaway. West Course - 3.87 miles The West Course bills itself as the Formula 1 configuration of the Acadia Motor Speedway, due to the fact that its two longest straightaways (the Backstretch and the Greataway) are broken by one super-sharp hairpin corner, a trademark of the Formula 1 circuit. The West Course uses the Grand Prix Circuit's frontstretch, and stays true to the course until halfway down the backstretch, where cars are diverted just slightly right and drive on that tangent for nearly the rest of the Backstretch's length. Turn 10 of the West Course is a super-sharp hairpin turn that whips cars around from the Backstretch onto the Greataway. This corner is extremely hard to execute correctly, and the runoff is not long enough to fully recover if cars blow through it. The West Course then follows the North Course's path off the Greataway into the Cross, but instead of heading through the southern end of the Cross, cars head through the eastern end and toward King's Corner from halfway through it. Cars drop into the banking of King's Corner from the top and then turn off to the right just before the exit, giving this Turns 15-16 combo one of the oddest corners in the Eastern Cup. The track heads east for a short distance before turning hard right in a increasing-radius corner (Turn 17) that redirects cars back onto the frontstretch. South Course - 3.6 miles The South Course of Acadia Motor Speedway follows the Grand Prix Circuit from the start-finish until the second corner of the Bowl. After the initial right-hand corner, cars head straight east toward the Cross, going in the western end and coming out the eastern end, like the West Course does. Instead of jumping off the right side near the end of King's Corner, the South Course continues through the end of King's Corner and completes the rest of its run along the Grand Prix Circuit's route. Southwest Course The Southwest Course is just what it sounds--a merger of the South and West Courses. The track follows the South Course's route until King's Corner, then jumps off to the right off the banking to follow the West Course's route to the start-finish. East Course - 1.91 miles The frontstretch of the East Course is actually the shortcut that the West and Southwest Courses take from King's Corner to the frontstretch, but run in the opposite direction. Upon reaching the King's Corner detour, cars head right to continue the path of the Grand Prix Circuit through the Katahdin Corners. Upon reaching the spot where the entrance to the frontstretch of the Grand Prix Circuit meets the route taken by the West and Southwest Courses, the East Course continues straight down its own frontstretch instead of turning left onto the Grand Prix Circuit's frontstretch. Oval - 1.45 miles The Oval of Acadia is a unique circuit, including the Western Esses, West Point and the Cross. The frontstretch of the Oval is the frontstretch of the North Course, and after going past West Point, they folow the South/Southwest Course's route into the Cross. Instead of continuing through the Cross like the South and Southwest Courses do, it turns south like the North Course does onto its own frontstretch. This circuit is vaguely elliptical, with 7 turns, 6 of them right-handers and one a left-hander. Category:Racetracks Category:Fictional Tracks